Rick Myers, 58

President and publisher, Grow Local Media, LLC Avon, Ind. First journalism job: Copyboy, Indianapolis Star

What are some of the most important lessons you have learned while working in the news industry?

Primarily, there are two things I have learned over the years: One is that content truly is king. If you are willing to work hard at the editorial end, you’re going to connect with readers, and advertisers will follow.

It’s about as simple as that. That’s why we commissioned an independent research group to help us determine what our readers’ interests are—extremely valuable information that has helped us stand apart from other publications. I have read some papers where I honestly believe the editorial team simply threw content together just to satisfy a press time. That’s not the way we work at Grow Local Media. Secondly, as a publisher, it’s your job to connect with your community. There is cachet in being a publisher and you should take advantage of that constantly.

I am everywhere—day and night, weekends, too—and because of that people know me and trust me. This is a wonderful business. We write the history pages for our communities, and it’s such an honor. This is truly a labor of love for me.

What are your predictions for where journalism is heading?

I have been saying this for some time, but I believe newspapers are going to see a renaissance period. I am not saying that digital is going to go away—that is a valuable tool—but I think people are going to value that time with a print product because it is very therapeutic; if you package together a print product with great content and design people will yearn to pick it up and read it. Of course, a renaissance period in the newspaper industry will be predicated on leadership, which I don’t think we’ve seen nearly enough of especially at the major-metro level.

I believe we have their hapless leadership to thank for the state we are in as an industry. People believe that just because no one reads their newspapers, no one is reading any newspaper at all. That’s complete rubbish.

So, leadership will have to come from the ranks of the weeklies, and small- to midsized dailies, if this industry is to thrive. In my opinion, these are the products that best represent the heart and soul of the newspaper business. The people behind these products are my heroes because I know how hard they work, and I know how much they care about their communities.